World Bank predicts that Bangladesh’s growth will slow to 1.6 percent in the current fiscal year.

The global lender made the prediction in its “Global Economic Prospects 2020” report last night.

The country’s growth is estimated to have slowed as the recovery in industrial production is reversed by Covid-19 related disruptions such as mitigation measures and global exports plunge, and as remittances fall — the World Bank observed in its report.

The report said the GDP in the South Asian region is projected to contract by 2.7 percent in 2020 as pandemic mitigation measures hinder consumption and services activity and uncertainty about the course of the pandemic chills private investment.

The WB, in its global outlook, said the shock of the coronavirus pandemic and shutdown measures to contain it have plunged the global economy into a severe contraction. It predicted that the global economy will shrink by 5.2 percent this year.